Need A Metal Barn, Metal Building, or Metal Garage?

Use Elephant Structures® BuildID™ System, The Easy Way to Build & Buy a Metal Barn or Storage Building Online.

Here at Elephant Structures, we pride ourselves on providing customers with everything they need to buy the best metal buildings, steel barns, carports and garages in the industry. This step-by-step buying guide will assist you with your purchase. If you have any additional questions, feel free to give us a call or simply email us; we’d be proud to have you as a customer. Okay, so let’s start the process: First, metal barns can be customized from a basic vehicle cover to a fully-enclosed, fully-insulated structure. In fact, many of the barns we sell have been used for farm and tractor storage as well as beautifully finished horse stables; the uses really are endless. To help customers with the buying process, Elephant Structures developed its patent-pending BuildID™ system to make the selection process simple and easy to understand. Throughout our website, Elephant will provide you with photos, definitions, and a thorough explanation of the various options.

Metal Barn Roof Styles

The frame of the steel barn is always one foot shorter than the length of the roof you select. Make sure when ordering your structure that you consider this. In terms of style, we have a basic regular roof (round roof on our County Barn), an A-Frame roof (boxed-eave roof on our Ridgeline Metal Barn), and a vertical roof on our Valley Barn and optional on our Ridgeline Barn. All color options are available on any style roof. While the roof selection is a personal decision based on aesthetics and budgets, we would like to point out the various benefits of each:

Metal Trim Detail

Trim detail on a vertical roof. This is standard on Elephant’s Valley barn and optional on the Ridgeline, which comes standard with an A-Frame (boxed-eave) roof.

Interior Detail

The County barn from Elephant is extremely strong with great finishing detail. Note, depending on engineering requirements, bracing may vary by state, region, city, or zipcode.

Triple Wide Bows

Large center widths, over 24 feet wide, have additional center bracing as shown. All triple wide buildings are certified to meet or exceed wind and snow loads.

Regular Roof

Our standard regular roof features horizontal panels which run from front-to-back. Because the regular roof style requires the least complicated construction, it is our most economical choice. It is important to note that we recommend that buildings longer than 36 feet should upgrade to a vertical roof.

A-Frame / Boxed-Eave Roof

The A-Frame style roof features horizontal panels which run from front-to-back and a boxed-eave trim covering the interior eave-side of the truss for a finished look. This gives your metal barn sharper angles.

Vertical Roof

While this is similar to the A-Frame style roof, the vertical roof is our premium offering and includes additional framing for added strength and durability. The roof panels are vertically oriented and run from the ridge cap (or peak) down to the eave-side. This is the best roof option that we offer as it allows snow, water, leaves, and other debris to easily run down and off of your building. The vertical roof is recommended on all metal barns that have excessive snow load requirements and especially on buildings over 36’ long.

1. COUNTY BARN

The County Barn uses the regular roof style and is highly desired for horse barns, horse stables, and tack barns. However, the County Barn is not limited to these uses. Lots of customers use the County Barn to store vintage cars or even large farm equipment. Click here to customize a County Barn for your needs.

2. RIDGELINE BARN

The Ridgeline barn comes standard with an A-Frame (boxed-eave) roof, but may be upgraded to a Vertical roof which is recommended on roof lengths over 36’. The Ridgeline Barn is ideal for any use. Consider the Ridgeline Barn for your next garage, woodworking shop, motorcycle storage, vintage car storage, farm equipment storage, machine shop, motorhome storage, RV cover, boat cover, racecar shop, and so much more. Click here to customize a Ridgeline Barn for your needs.

3. VALLEY BARN

The Valley Barn, also commonly referred to as a Seneca Barn, uses the vertical roof style and is typically used for larger buildings. If you are looking for an affordable building for your manufacturing business, the Valley Barn is a great option with a low cost per square foot. Click here to customize a Valley Barn for your needs.

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Picking the Right Size Metal Barn

HOW TO DETERMINE THE LENGTH AND WIDTH OF YOUR STRUCTURE

Our buildings come in thousands of sizes and combinations. What size you choose will ultimately depend on your individual needs. Think carefully about what your future needs may be before you order to ensure that your barn, carport or metal garage will always work for you. If you are primarily storing vehicles in your structure, please feel free to visit our Carport-Sizer chart to get the specific dimensions of your car, truck, SUV, pickup, or van.

HOW TO DETERMINE THE HEIGHT OF YOUR BARN

The structure height you choose is actually the side height or leg height of the building. The center peak of the roof will be higher than the leg height. There is a minimum 6′ leg height on the side portions of the barn. All Boxed-eave and Vertical roof styles start at 6 feet tall. The maximum side height for a structure that is not certified is 14 feet. Maximum side height of a certified structure is 14 feet. Most customers choose a structure with a minimum 7 foot sides or higher to accommodate head clearance. It is important to note that if you are planning to enclose your barn at a later date, you will need to order a side height tall enough to accommodate the size garage door or walk-in door you want.

CERTIFIED VS NON-CERTIFIED METAL BARNS

Non-Certified Structures

These structures can be manufactured with either 14 gauge or 12 gauge galvanized square steel tubing. A 12 gauge frame is approximately 30% thicker metal than 14 gauge and measures 2.25” x 2.25” versus 2.50” x 2.50”. A non-certified structure can only be used in areas where permits are not required and no wind or snow-load rating is needed. While non-certified structures are engineered to withstand wind and snow loads in your region, only certified structures are guaranteed to meet or exceed specific requirements.

Certified Structures

Certified structures can be manufactured with either 14 gauge or 12 gauge steel. Certified structures must be used in areas where a permit is required. These buildings are professionally designed by an engineer to meet or exceed the specific wind and snow loads for your area. Engineered drawings for certified barns, carports and garages are available upon request after your order is placed.

INSTALLATION

It is important to remember that the installation site for your building should be level; however, it is not necessary to pour a concrete or cement foundation. Many of our metal barns are installed directly on ground, dirt, or gravel. We make it so easy, we even include basic anchoring in our pricing to secure your steel building. And even better, all of our prices include free delivery and free installation every day. We think it is important for customers to know what the total cost is going into their project.

ANCHORS

Rebar

For non-certified structures, rebar anchors are included in the price for all ground installations. Ground installation typically assumes dirt, clay, and gravel surfaces.

Concrete Screws / Concrete Anchors

Concrete anchors are used for all metal barns, certified or non-certified, erected on concrete or cement. Anchors are included in the price of your structure.

Auger Anchors / Mobile Home Anchors

Auger anchors are always used for the ground installation of a certified structure. Additional charges may apply. Auger anchors are highly recommended in sandy soil conditions for non-certified and certified units. You may purchase auger anchors separately.

BARN, CARPORT, AND GARAGE OPTIONS

GABLE ENDS

Gabled ends are a great option to hide the frame and braces of your metal structure. As an added bonus, gables also provide extra framing support and protection for the ends of your metal barn.

SIDE PANELS

Side panels are available on any metal structure, barn, garage, or carport. The standard width for a side panel is 3 feet. The standard lengths are 21 feet, 26 feet, 31, and 36 feet, but these sizes can be split to accommodate what works for you. The benefits of side panels are that they provide enhanced protection from sun, damaging hail and ice, and other weather conditions. As an additional benefit, side panels give the structure extra strength.

CLOSED SIDES AND ENDS

Closed sides and/or closed ends may be added to any steel barn. Fully-enclosed structures become durable and affordable garages. Walk-in doors, windows, and garage doors may be installed on any closed side or end of your barn provided that it is large enough to accommodate the fixture. You may enclose one, two, three, or all four sides of your structure. Standard sides and ends feature horizontally corrugated panels. They may be upgraded to vertical panels for an additional charge. Pricing for vertical panels includes additional framing and support.

GARAGE DOORS

Garage doors may be installed in the ends and/or sides of your steel barn provided that that side or end has been closed and is large enough to support it. Door sizes range from 6 feet to 14 feet tall and are white in color. Available garage door sizes vary according to the height and width of the structure you choose. Generally, your steel barn will need to be the same size or 1 foot higher than the garage door you want to install. Elephant Structures BuildID™ system automatically adjusts this for you. Please consult an Elephant Structures sales representative if you need further assistance to determine what size garage door will fit best in your building. If you choose to install your own garage door, window, or walk-in door, or would simply prefer to have an opening in your wall, a frame-out option is also available. Typically, your building will need to be 1 foot higher than the height of the frame-out you are ordering to accommodate a header bar for added strength. Unfortunately, we cannot install customer supplied garage doors, walk-in doors, or windows to any structure.

WALK-IN DOORS AND WINDOWS

Walk-in doors and windows may be installed in the ends and/or sides of your barn, carport or garage provided that that side or end has been closed and is large enough to support it. Our walk-in doors are generally available with or without a window. All doors and windows are white in color; however, you may choose a specific trim color for added detail.